[SPAM] Re: [mod_python] Point of frustration/disappointment

Jim Popovitch wrote:

>On Thu, 2005-07-28 at 14:16 -0500, Jon-Pierre Gentil wrote:
>
>
>I am using...
>
>   Apache 1.3
>   mod_python 2.7.11 (manual compile)
>   python2-2.2.2
>   
>In order to make mod_python work partway, I had to install
>python2-devel-2.2.2 on a production server (you should never 
>have to install -devel packages on a production system)
>
Then take that up with redhat people, not with us, why are you whining 
about redhat policies to us?  Making you install a "-devel" package, 
which contains link libraries and include files for any software you 
want to compile/link against is just plain stupid.

Debian nor Slackware, both of which I've used, don't have this 
limitation: you install "python", and it contains all you need for 
runtime, and all you need to compile against.

And "you should never have to install -devel packages on a production 
server" is absolutely no reason at all.  There's absolutely nothing in a 
-devel package which will make a production server unstable.  And if 
you're worried about someone getting inside the server and then "having 
the tools to build something", well, that's just dumb, by the time the 
cracker's inside the machine it's already way too late.

>This system also has python-1.5.2 installed on it, which is
>/usr/bin/python, due to rpm-python and yum requirements. So,
>replacing /usr/bin/python breaks other things, including
>production server policies.
>
So don't replace it.

"mod_python" doesn't load "/usr/bin/python", so you don't need that file 
while running.  Rename it to something else, symlink your "python2" to 
"/usr/bin/python", build mod_python, restore /usr/bin/python.  Seems 
simple enough.

>Finally, in order to even get mod_python to work, I had to
>edit src/Makefile (added -DEAPI)
>
Modifying a Makefile wasn't categorized as "cruel and unusual" in 
development circles, last time I checked...

>It just seems plain messy to me, especially in a production
>environment.  It's ok to have to do this in a development
>only environment.
>
There you have it, do it in a development environment and copy to your 
production environment.

>-Jim P.
>
Good luck.

-gca